Riot grrrl hits you when you're young and impressionable; not only do you want to be the best feminist and punk you can be, but you also want to look and dress just like your idols. Kathleen Hanna, Kathi Wlicox and Tobi Vail and Billy Name of Bikini Kill made that easy: as part of their style revolution, which included the DIY production of zines, records and performances, they developed a look that was easily replicable and that challenged the status quo. Draw the word "slut" on your belly, as Hanna did, for instance, and not only are you fucking with the labels that the world uses against you, you're turning style into a marker of community and radicalism. But for now, at least, you can put away the Sharpie. VFILES, the media conglomerate that loves the '90s, has teamed up with Bikini Kill and Hanna on a series of items—like a killer dress, posters pulled from fliers and even a chapstick— in celebration of The Riot Grrrl Collection, a new book of materials from the scene's heyday. It's all available over on VFILES' site, and to cap things off, they even teamed up with online literary zine The Henry Review to produce a couple of videos of Hanna answering questions about the scene and reading from it's manifesto. Proceeds benefit The Girls Rock Camp Alliance, "an international nonprofit organization of Girls Rock Camps whose shared mission is to empower girls with the tools of music education to foster self-esteem and confidence." Shop the collection here, and check back next week for a full interview with Hanna and Wilcox.
For more on Kathleen Hanna and riot grrrl, read our 2010 interview with her.